The Importance of Staying Ernest
by OughtaKnowBetter
Summary: Complete story. Is it any good? Anybody want more?


Disclaimer: all theirs, nothing mine. Heavy sigh. The Importance of Staying Ernest 

          The shelter wasn't really a good place to be, not under these circumstances. It would've been all right for Tess, but Ernest wouldn't have lasted five minutes before the people running the place went tearing off to call 911. So Tess sidled in through the side door, bolted down as much food as she could while stuffing her pockets with more food that wouldn't get messy all over the insides—washing her clothes wasn't the easiest, not living like this—and then hustled out the front door, or sometimes the back, before anyone could stop her. Not that anyone really tried, not after the first time when she had a heavy charge on from a pyro—real lucky, that time—and now the most anyone ever did was throw her a glance or two. Except for that nice old crazy lady, the one with the gray hair, who winked at her now and again.

            That old lady, she would slip Tess a few extra donuts or dollars occasionally, so Tess knew that she wasn't gonna get hassled at this safe house. And going there meant not worrying about getting enough food, and last week Tess even got a blanket for Ernest from the Goodwill store with the money that the lady gave her. Coming on toward fall and the cold weather, that meant a little extra warmth when she snuggled under its stained cover to share body heat with Ernest.

            Ernest was sleeping more and more these days. Tess was worried about him. Maybe she ought to move them both down South, where it was warm? Nice thought, but Tess couldn't figure out how to do it. Maybe if she could get enough dollars from the old lady? Probably not; they'd need an awful lot for two bus tickets even if she could get Ernest up onto his feet long enough to get to the station and onto the bus.

            Besides, there were people out looking for them both, and Tess didn't want to run into any of them. Government types, in suits, some of them with guns even if Tess didn't think that they'd use them. No, the suits wanted Ernest, and her, too. So far she'd kept out of their way, except for that once. But even that was okay: she'd had a charge from that elemental, the one that was a pyro, and she'd blasted the suits big time and ducked down a little alley while they were busy batting out the flames on those expensive suits. She scooted down some place skinny where she could scuttle through and they couldn't. She didn't go to the safe house that night. They both went hungry. Better hungry than caught.

            It wasn't much of a life, but it was better than what they'd left behind. Even with Ernest sleeping so much. And the other stuff he was starting to do.

            *          *          *

            "So that's the whole of it." Adam leaned back in his chair, fingers pushing against each other in mindless isometrics. The computer screen in front of him lazily mutated into fractal images, the thinking man's screen saver, as the remote connection severed itself into electronic oblivion. "Lady Esther says this kid is definitely a mutant, but isn't sure what type, elemental or psionic. She also says there's a rumor going around the workers at the shelter that someone got burned out of thin air with the girl nearby, but Esther thinks that it might all be in the worker's mind, that it was a psychic illusion. Esther herself says she's getting psychic nudges from the girl. Esther even suggests that there's a possibility that the kid is both elemental _and_ psionic, although I can't see how. The genetic theory doesn't support it. Lady Esther says that," and Adam snorted in amusement, "'she has a feeling.'"

            "Lady Esther?" Emma raised her eyebrows. "Sounds like some of my mother's old cronies, the ones who pretended to practice magic and then giggle over tea and cookies later."

            "You'd think so, wouldn't you." Adam permitted himself a small grin. "That's what Lady Esther would like you to think."

            "Lady Esther's a mutant?"

            "Borderline. Just enough behind those twinkling green granny eyes to be able to spot people that I need to know about, not enough to trigger anyone's radar. But, back to the topic at hand. Esther says this girl looks about ten, maybe twelve, and thinks she's both psionic and an elemental. I just hope we're not dealing with another super-charged mutant losing control of her powers."

            "Let's bring her in before deciding what she is and isn't," Brennan offered. His tall, rangy frame seemed too big for the stool that he perched on, and his energy level too high. Of them all, he had the best reason for getting the kid off the street. He'd been there himself not too long ago, and the memories would break open with too little prodding. He was lucky to have gotten out alive. If it hadn't been for Adam, and Shalimar, and the rest of the Mutant X team… "At twelve, I was a mess, and she probably is, too. She probably doesn't even know who she is, let alone what."

            "She's skittish, Brennan," Adam warned. "Lady Esther told me that she got a psychic blast from her the first time she invited her to stay the night. And not in flames, which leads me think she might be psionic."

            "She's scared." It wasn't Emma's own psychic abilities working, it was only common sense. "How are we going to get her in?"

            "Good question," Adam sighed. "I'd prefer to do it without frightening her. She'll never stay in the underground with our people if we kidnap her. Emma, are you up to this?"

            Emma gave a gentle smile. "Adam, if she's a psionic, I'm the _only_ one who can bring her in. And besides, she's a child in need."

            *          *          *

            There was a new volunteer at the safe house. Tess noticed her right away, a real pretty girl not much older than Tess herself. Except this girl was like old enough to pass for twenty, and Tess was only twelve and looked it. The volunteer was tall—_I _really_ want to be that tall when I grow up_—with red hair that framed her face with wisps of airiness, and looked like she had that model-thin look that came from working at it, not from going without too many meals 'cause you didn't have any money. And she looked kind, and welcoming. Tess wished she could go and sob out all her troubles to her. She looked even nicer than gray-haired Lady Esther, the crazy lady who gave her money and offered to say white witch spells for Tess.

            She was so hungry. It was stew tonight, chicken stew with lots of vegetables. Tess had never liked vegetables back home but here she was so hungry that taste almost didn't matter. She couldn't spoon the stew into her pockets for Ernest, but the day-old biscuits fit, and a bunch of not yet stale cookies, too.

            Tess almost dropped the scant handful of raisins when Lady Esther put a gentle finger on her wrist. Tess cowered back. "They're for me. I like raisins," she lied, turning big eyes upward, hoping the lady wouldn't make her put them back. 

            "It's all right," Lady Esther reassured her. "You take as many as you like." Which was strictly against shelter rules. You were only supposed to eat your share here, not take any out for later, or for someone else. It was a rule designed to get kids to spend the night here in safety, and maybe think about going back home.  For Tess and Ernest, not a option. "Listen, you wait right here for me. I'm going to fix a little cup of this stew to take with you."

            _Gotta__ be a trap_. But she was so hungry, and she was really worried about Ernest. Not only was he sleeping a lot, but he wasn't eating so good. Maybe this stew would tempt him, hot and smelling good. Tess could take the stew and hightail it out of here.

            _Gotta__ be a trap_. And then Tess spotted it: it was the newcomer, the real pretty girl with red hair. _Freak like me_, she thought. Only this one does mind stuff, like that other one a couple of weeks ago. And once she knew what to look for, Tess could feel the tendrils of emotion teasing at her heartstrings, urging her to talk to the redhead, to go with her.

            _Not a chance, lady. Your goons missed me last week, now you're gonna try?_ With the artfulness honed by weeks of desperation, Tess oh-so-casually looked at the various exits. Nope, not the front. There was a big tall guy out there, looking like he was part of the neighborhood. Tess hadn't seen him before, but there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was working with the volunteer lady. He kept scanning the world outside the shelter as if searching for something—or someone. Tess could just bet who that someone was. And redhead would look out at the back door and then look away a moment later, which meant that exit was out, too. Okay, that left the side door. Was there anyone else there? Wouldn't put it past these geeks. But once out through the side exit from the shelter there was a little half-open doorway into the adjacent building that she could scrape through and any adult would get stuck trying to follow.

            The side door it was. Tess slipped one last biscuit into her pocket for Ernest. Not as good as the stew would've been, but Tess had to escape to get it to him. Saunter around the table as if looking for a place to sit, even though she'd never yet sat down to eat in this shelter. A step closer to the door, another step, don't let Crazy Esther or the redhead see.

            Emma turned away, lifting a be-ringed finger to her face. "Guys, I'm busted. She's on her way out. Side door, Jesse."

            "Don't let her get away!" came Adam's alarmed voice, monitoring the operation from back at Sanctuary.

            "I'm on it."

            "Guys, we may have a problem," Shalimar said from her perch looking down on the back entrance to the shelter. "Bogies at three o'clock."

            "And more coming down the street," Brennan added into his own communicator ring. 

            "How do they know when we're around?" Jesse asked, his annoyance plain. "GSA agents?"

            "Could be," Brennan responded. "They have the look."

            "But not the smell," Shalimar said. "Cheap dime store cologne reeks!" _Even from that far away_, wasn't added though they could hear it in the feral's complaint.

            "How many?" Adam put in.

            "Three at the front."

            "Three more back here."

            "Jesse?"

            "I'm counting! I'm counting! Wait a minute, let me get to my other hand…"

            "Jesse!"

            "Just two on the side. Not a problem, Adam."

            Brennan broke in. "Adam, these guys mean business. They're on their way into the shelter. I'm going to intercept."

            "Be careful, Brennan. If we don't know who they work for—"

            "The trio back here have trank guns," Shalimar discovered. "They must want that girl alive."

            "So do we. Take 'em out, Shal," Adam directed, making his decision. "Jess, you too."

            Inside, Tess had time for only one brief glance out the front door before everyone else noticed the commotion. She saw the tall, dark-haired man launch a spinning back kick to drop a suit with a funny-looking gun to the ground. And she saw what the others inside, now crowded around the windows to watch, thought they imagined: a brief, intense jolt of electricity that made suit number two stiffen and fall. She knew that what they saw wasn't their imagination.

            _Cool. Gotta get that for me. Maybe next time. For now, gotta scramble._

            Tess didn't wait any longer to see what other tricks the man outside had up his sleeve. He was obviously another freak like her, and the fact that he, and the redhead, were hanging around this shelter meant that Tess was gonna have to find a new place to get food and stuff from. She grabbed one last apple and scooted out the side door.

            Jesse wasn't even working up a sweat. He had faced off against two men, both in cheap suits designed to blend into a crowd but stood out like a sore thumb here. There was no one around, and Jesse intended to make full use of that fact: the first man swung his fist in an attempt to detach Jesse's head from his neck.

            Jesse massed to density just short of diamond. The man's fist didn't so much bounce as crush against the solid matter, and the assailant howled with equal parts pain, shock, and amazement. He staggered back, holding his hand in agony.

            The second man got a different treatment. Molecular density went two ways: solid and gaseous, and for this man Jesse went insubstantial. It didn't matter how well-aimed the man's kick to Jesse's midriff was—it went straight through the molecular mutant. With a grin, Jesse re-materialized himself, heavy-massed one fist, and tapped the man just over the ear. The man collapsed as if hit by a pile-driver. Which, in effect, he had been.

            Tess watched, her jaw hanging. This man, this guy who was here to get her—she recognized the type even without the government-issue suit—he was a freak like her! Only he could change his mass whenever he wanted. Which meant that this guy might be the answer to Tess's prayers.

            Jesse saw her in the next moment. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here to help you. I'm not with them."

            Academy Award time: Tess backed away as if scared. "You keep away from me."

            "No, look. I didn't mean to scare you. Give me a chance to explain. I'm Jesse. We heard about you, and we want to help. Give you a good place to live. Safe."

            _Yeah, right. Just like the suits_. "Who do you work for?" Tess put a feeling of I-really-want-to-believe-you into her voice.

            "I work for a guy named Adam." _That's it, Jesse, keep her talking and not running._ "He wants to help people like me, and like you. All you have to do is come with me. I'll make sure that you're safe."

            "You're sure?" Tess sidled a step closer to Jesse.

            "Absolutely," Jesse reassured her. He held out his hand. "Just come with me. Meet my friends."

            Tess took Jesse's hand. It was the last thing he remembered.

            *          *          *

            "Jesse! Jesse! Wake up! You okay?"

            Jesse said something unprintable.

            "He looks okay," Emma said doubtfully. "No bruises, no black eyes."

            "Jess, what happened?" Brennan pushed. "Where's the kid?"

            "Her name's Tess," Emma put in. "Jesse, I saw her go out the side door of the shelter. You must have seen her."

            "I talked with her. I think," Jesse groaned. "Where is she?"

            "That's what we want to know," Brennan told him. "You let a couple of goons take you out?"

            "No! Ow!" Jesse tried pushing his skull back together. It felt in serious jeopardy of splitting apart. "I remember…I remember two guys. Punching them out." He thought for a moment more. It was painful to watch. "There must have been a third guy."

            Shalimar came trotting up. "She's gone. No sign of her. She disappeared through this building here and then her trail vanished."

            "Somebody take her?" Brennan asked.

            "I don't think so. No signs of a struggle. I'm thinking she left on her own two feet."

            "I didn't sense any fear, nothing beyond what she felt as she was leaving the shelter," Emma added.

            Jesse staggered to his feet. "Let's get after her."

            He didn't get far. Shalimar caught him before he could fall on his face.

            Brennan grabbed Jesse's other arm. "Jess, you've got concussion."

            "No, I don't," Jesse denied fiercely. Another wave of dizziness sent him reeling. "All right, maybe I do. But we have to get to, what's her name? Tess?"

            "We'll come back again tomorrow," Brennan decided for the group. "Kid like that, she's not coming back here tonight. We'll be lucky if she shows tomorrow. Or the next night."

            "I blew it," Jesse groaned. "I should've looked around more carefully. She was right there, ready to come with me."

            *          *          *

            "You're not going anywhere." Adam turned away from his microscope.

            "Adam—"

            "I can't tell if it's concussion or something else. Your exam isn't consistent with a concussion, Jesse, but I can't find any other reasonable explanation." The older man folded his arms with finality. He surveyed the mutant lying on the bio-bed with an expression somewhere in the middle of fondness, sympathy, and not a little exasperation. "Twenty four hours, and then we'll see."

            "Adam—"

            "Jesse, you passed out twice getting back to Sanctuary," Emma reminded him.

            "I did not. It was only once." Emma just looked at Jesse. "All right, twice, but I feel better now. I'm okay."

            "Hey, don't sweat it," Brennan said. "The kid won't show tomorrow night. You're not going to miss anything."

            "And what are you three going to be doing?" Jesse lifted his chin challengingly, a difficult task when lying on his back looking up at his teammate.

            Brennan punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Hunting. What else? Grasping at straws."

            "While you get some rest," Adam put in firmly. "Twenty-four hours, Jesse."

            Jesse sighed. "Grounded. I haven't been grounded since I was sixteen." He gave a quirky grin. "It was over a girl that time, too. But I think she was older. Fifteen, at least."

            *          *          *

            "Ernest?" Tess pushed her way into their hideout, carefully rearranging the boards over the entrance to keep out both intruders and the cool night air. "Ernest, you awake?"

            "Mm."

            She could barely hear his voice, but she knew exactly where he was: lying on the pilfered and stained mattress that she'd rescued from the trash heap two weeks ago. The blanket covered his skinny form, tucked up around his chin and one corner huddling over his dishwater blond hair. It was dark inside, with very little streetlight peeking through the cracks in the wall, but Tess could still see that her brother was fading into nothingness. Literally nothingness: his very molecules seemed to waver between solidity and evaporation. At times Tess could see the torn sheet beneath him that covered the seedy mattress springs.

            "You hungry? I got some more food from that shelter place." Tess really wanted Ernest to be willing to eat. Even a pretense would be better than not eating at all. At least it would get some food into him. "These biscuits are really good. And I got you an apple."

            "Mm." Her brother couldn't rouse himself enough to be interested. "'kay."

            At least Ernest wasn't fighting her. Although that would have been better; it would have meant that he had the energy to fight. This was scary.

            "I got something better," Tess said. "You eat something, then we'll try it."

            "Mm."

            _Doesn't even have the strength to be interested_. Tess slowly fed her brother the biscuits, breaking them into smaller pieces that a sick ten year old could handle. _This wasn't what I expected when we left home. But I'd still do the same thing over again._

            "Listen, Ernest. I saw another freak today. A bunch of 'em, actually, but one was really important. He could get real airy like you are now, and, more important, he could get real solid."

            That caught Ernest's attention. His eyes didn't look so glazed. "You got a charge off him?"

            "Yeah. You wanna try this?" She held out the apple. "Then we can see if the charge'll do you any good."

            Ernest sighed. "Mm. Maybe later. Tired."

            Tess frowned. _Not sure there's gonna be a later_. "Okay," she lied. "You get some rest." And put out her hand to touch his face.

            *          *          *

            "You sure she's around here?" Brennan looked around the outside of the shelter. It was dark, the sun having escaped down the horizon an hour ago. Lady Esther was on watch inside tonight, but so far the girl hadn't shown, just as Brennan had predicted. They'd scared her off. They'd be lucky if the kid ever came back here. If it were Brennan in the same situation, he'd've moved on long ago. It gave him no satisfaction to know that he was right.

            The buildings loomed tall in the darkness. The streetlights were broken, and the moon wasn't willing to do much in the way of illumination. A rat chittered at the intruders, working up the courage to attack. Brennan shot an absent-minded bolt of electricity at it, deliberately missing it by scant inches. The rat squawked indignantly, and left in search of easier prey. "This is not a good place for a kid. Any kid."

            "She's here," Shalimar said. "I can't tell exactly where, but I can feel her watching us." Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the territory.

            "You're kidding. She'd have to be crazy to come back."

            Emma scowled, her face scrunched up in concentration. "Shal's right. Tess is here. I'm getting vibes from her."

            "Can you get a lock on where she is? A direction, maybe?"

            Emma shook her head unhappily. "No. Just vibes." She stopped, puzzled. "Guys, she's thinking about Jesse."

            "Jesse?" That didn't make sense to Brennan. "He's not even here."

            "No, but Jesse said that he talked to her yesterday." An odd expression came into Emma's far away eyes. "I think he made an impression on her."

            "And that means--?" Brennan let the words hang in the air.

            Shalimar got it a bit quicker than her masculine teammate. She giggled.

            "What?" Brennan still didn't get it. "Shal?"

            Shalimar winked. "Somebody's got a crush on Jesse Kilmartin."

            *          *          *

            Not here. Tess swallowed her disappointment. The other three were there, but not the now-he's-here, now-he's-not freak. This wasn't gonna help Ernest. Tess had used the charge she had gotten from the man who called himself Jesse, and it had worked real good on Ernest. Her brother got a lot more solid, and his appetite came back, and he looked more awake than he had in, like, weeks. 

            But it wasn't enough. Ernest needed more of the charge that Tess had got. So Tess needed to get back to Jesse.

Tess hoped that Jesse was okay. That sometimes happened, after she took a charge from someone. They came down with something like a flu or something. But then they got better. Except for that one girl a long time ago, the one who could talk to animals, kinda. Tess kept taking more and more charges from her, 'cause it was fun to get skunks and raccoons and stuff to come over and get petted. Tess even managed to walk around a whole herd of wild deer, although the big buck with antlers kept snorting at her and it was tough keeping it under control. But the girl's parents got worried about the girl being sick so much, and took her away somewhere. Tess never did find out what happened to her. After that Tess learned to be more careful who she took a charge from.

She studied the three below, wondering if getting a charge from any of them would help Ernest. Tess kind of doubted it. The big tall guy, he threw electricity. Great for getting rid of the suits, but not needed right now. The redhead was there too, eliminating any doubt that she was hooked up with the people outside the shelter last night. The redhead was another mind freak, like Tess only different. Tess could still feel the little wisps of emotion tugging at her, urging her to come talk to the trio. It made Tess nervous; if Tess could feel the redhead, could Red feel Tess? Better not stick around too long.

The third was a blonde woman, the kind that looked like what Tess wanted to be when she grew up. Tess snorted to herself. Fat chance. Tess had mousy brown hair, and skinny as a snake to boot. Tess wondered what the blonde woman was doing with the other two. She had to be a freak like them. Then Tess saw what was going on very clearly: the blonde was almost sniffing the air, looking around like a cat on the prowl. She looked almost right at Tess, and Tess cowered back, frozen. Did she see her? Tess hoped not. _Time to boogie_.

"She's gone," Shalimar reported, scanning the territory. She focused on something invisible to the other two. "Let's see if I can pick up her trail." She ambled over to where Tess had been just moments before, her eyes slitted with the effort of tracking the elusive girl, the others drifting in her wake. "Yup. Right here. It's still warm. Just missed her." She looked around. Their quarry hadn't been gone long; maybe they could pick up her trail. "She went through there." Shalimar pointed out a slender pipe that angled off through the building wall. It was large enough for a twelve year old girl to squeeze through but even Shalimar doubted that she could follow.

Shalimar sighed. "Anybody think she's going to come back a third time?"

Emma smiled, anticipating the teasing to come. "She will if Jesse is here."

*          *          *

"Jailbait, huh?" It didn't happen often, but even Adam was known to kid members of Mutant X. "Jesse, I had no idea you had that effect on young women."

"C'mon, Adam."

"Don't make fun of her, Adam," Emma objected. She too was having trouble suppressing a laugh. "All girls go through this, and it can be traumatic. Jesse should be flattered that she has a crush on him."

"Flattered. Right." Brennan grinned broadly. "You feel flattered, Jess?"

Jesse declined to react. It would only give the others ammunition to bait him with. Instead he turned back to the computer, fingers dancing over the console, and hurriedly changed the subject. "It took a while, but I found her. Missing persons records. Missing children, actually. Back of the milk carton stuff." A picture of a twelve year old girl popped up on the computer screen, dark eyes with a strangely sad and haunted air despite the determined smile. It was a posed school picture, one with a nondescript background that told nothing about the picture's inhabitant. The others crowded around to look. "Theresa Maguire."

"Maguire?" Adam looked up, a fleeting frown crossing his face. "You sure about that last name?"

Jesse nodded. "Vanished three months ago, assumed to be a runaway with her younger brother, Ernest. There was a sighting of them in Chicago, then nothing."

"Until now," Emma said quietly. "That's her. No doubt about it."

Jesse acknowledged the correction. "Did anyone see anything of the brother?" He brought up a second picture, this one of a younger boy with hair as dark as his sister's. In contrast, though, he had a mischievous glint in his eye, suggesting that he had raised his share of merriment in kinder days.

"It's a better explanation of why Theresa is hoarding food," Adam mused. "She's probably taking it to her brother."

"Tess," Emma put in, not realizing that she had spoken.

"What?"

"Tess. She doesn't like Theresa." No one questioned Emma's statement; they all knew better. "At least we know he's alive, too."

"So where is this brother?" Brennan asked rhetorically. "Instead of one kid, we've got two to hunt down. Is he a mutant as well?"

"And why doesn't Tess bring him to the shelter to eat, instead of bring the food back to him?" Shalimar put her finger on the crux of the matter. "Unless for some reason he can't come. Maybe he can't walk?"

"Nothing on the description about being physically disabled," Jesse reported. "If he can't walk, it's recent. I'll try a scan of hospital reports for the last couple of months."

"I doubt that you'll find anything," Adam said. "Kids this scared aren't likely to go for help of any kind, let alone medical help that will call in the child care workers."

"They'd rather die," Brennan agreed. "Which means that we better find them fast, before that happens."

"I agree," Adam said. "Jesse, Emma says Tess had a crush on you." The older man was serious now, all teasing left behind. "Maybe she'll approach you at the shelter if she thinks that you're alone. Feel up to being the bait?"

"I felt up to it last night," Jesse returned pointedly.

Adam waggled a finger. "Two nights ago, as I recall, every time you stood up, you fell on your face after three minutes. After which you slept for twenty-four hours straight, and then alternated naps with eating everything you could get your hands on until this afternoon. Not normal behavior, Jesse, not even for you. I repeat: do you feel up to going on a mission? With the potential of a cadre of government agents to defend against?"

Jesse started to glare at him, then thought better of it. "I'm all right, Adam. Whatever it was, I'm fine now. Let's get out there. We have a little girl and her brother to rescue."

*          *          *

The shelter looked as forlorn as ever, paint peeling off the outside walls in the spots where the entire brick facing hadn't crumbled away. The streetlights were still broken, which was a blessing in disguise. Jesse didn't have to look at the surrounding dirt. The slender pipe through which Tess had made her escape previously had a new chip in it, gleaming bright and clean against the grime of the rest of the metal.

It was a far cry from where Jesse had grown up. Jesse's early years had been spent among the privileged, with enough food, a good education, more than one roof over his head. This shelter didn't look anything like his father's vacation house at the shore. And the automotive junk heap out front bore no resemblance whatsoever to the little Mazda Miata that his dad handed down to him on his sixteenth birthday. 

Then his father went out and bought himself a new Ferrari, to cope with the mid-life crisis brought on by a son with a mutant gene.

It was shortly thereafter that Jesse was sent to a special medical center for "treatment." And a specialized boarding school, so that his parents didn't have to deal with a socially unacceptable adolescent. And then there was an unending parade of teen-age style "toys" like computers and electronics so that they could pretend that they still cared about him without actually talking to him. Jesse had never felt so alone, so unwanted. He'd fantasized about running away from it all, somewhere where no one knew that he was a freak.

Hmm. Maybe he could understand what Tess was going through. Her parents probably weren't as wealthy as his, but she would still have felt as unwanted as he did. There wasn't as much about Tess's background in the computer files as he would've liked. Father was a guy named Absolom Maguire, mother deceased. Both kids did well in school, although there was no record of any after school activities, no sports and not much in the way of close friends. Both children were presumed kidnapped, although there was never any ransom demand. Translation: Tess and her brother ran away, and their father couldn't face the fact that they hated him. A kidnapping was _so_ much more socially acceptable than being a runaway for parents. Jess leaned against the lamppost, trying to look inconspicuous in the nighttime alleyway. Even he'd run away once, though he'd thought better of it, and turned around after an hour of feeling sorry for himself. How much worse had it been for Tess and her brother, to actually carry it through?

"Here she comes." Shalimar's quiet voice whispered through the comm link. "She's alone."

"Don't do anything to scare her off," Adam cautioned. He had taken up a post along with Emma on the far side of the street, hiding inside an older white van with a faded logo of nothing in particular stenciled on the side. "She's already demonstrated that she can run and hide. We need to entice her in."

"Adam, I've got a bogie at ten o'clock," Brennan reported. "It looks like one of the guys we tangled with two nights ago. He's still got a beaut of a shiner." They could hear the smirk in the elemental's voice. 

"These guys are really getting irritating," Adam muttered. "How many are there?"

"Three."

"Hmph." Adam came to a decision. "Brennan, you and Shalimar remove them from the equation. I don't want them spooking Tess. Take them somewhere, and find out who they work for. It's time to put an end to their interference."

"With pleasure."

Three normals. Shalimar hoped that at least one would be a challenge. She trotted down the alleyway, Brennan's long legs keeping up without any difficulty.

Their opponents apparently knew what to expect, and were ready to engage. Two broke off, one for Shalimar and one for Brennan, while the third hung back, waiting to see.

Brennan gestured gallantly to Shalimar. "Ladies' choice. Which one do you want?"

"The one that'll give me more of a workout." Shalimar showed her teeth. Feral eyes gleamed in the darkness with anticipation. She moved forward.

Opening volley: spinning back kick that connected with a hastily thrown blocking forearm.  A roundhouse was likewise blocked. Shalimar grinned again. Not too easy. Good. 

Brennan was more serious about the whole matter. There was a lost and lonely kid out there, probably two, that needed their help, and this bunch was getting in the way. Brennan didn't want to take the time to deal with them. He twisted a strand of electricity between his fingers, boosted the wattage to knock-out levels, and flung it at the oncoming figure.

The man dodged. Missed! His opponent knew what he was facing, what to expect, and how to deal. Frowning, Brennan advanced, blocked a punch, and retaliated.

Something buzzed by his ear. Brennan looked up, startled. "Shalimar! Trank gun!"

Brennan hadn't a clue how she did it. Somehow, mid-air, Shalimar twisted a leap into a flip, dodging a tiny speeding canister that crashed against the brick wall, spraying noxious-smelling droplets into the night air. 

This had stopped being fun. They needed to end this quickly, before it went the wrong way. Brennan sent his opponent reeling back with a well-placed kick, and followed it up with a quick one-two punch. The man collapsed with a groan. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shalimar turn and strike. Number two finished.

There was a tiny sting at his neck. Brennan slapped at it automatically, and came away with a tiny dart in his hand and a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. He looked up at Shalimar, his eyes already glazing over. "Shit." He sank to his knees, consciousness draining away.

"Brennan!" Shalimar didn't dare take the time to check on him. Already another dart was buzzing through the air like an enraged bumblebee. With speed that astonished even herself—_Adam's right. Our mutations are getting stronger_—she plucked it out of the air and flung it back at the man with the trank gun. It hit him mid-chest. His jaw dropped open, flabbergasted, and he mimicked Brennan's graceless swan dive to the cold broken pavement.

*          *          *

Jesse heard her steal up behind him. He stayed casual, relaxed against the lamp post. It took all of his self-control to maintain that casualness. "Tess?"

The little scritch-scritch stopped.

"It's all right. I know you're here. And I'm here to help you." He took a shot in the dark. "I'm not here to send you back to your parents."

A little patch of darkness, blacker than the rest, turned into a miniature human shape. "You wanna grab me, too? Make me do whatever you want? Not gonna happen."

"No, I'm not going to grab you," Jesse said, putting all the reassurance he could into his voice. He almost put out his hand to take hers, and thought better of it. _Too soon, too soon._ "You're free to go whenever, and where ever, you like. But I am hoping that you'll choose to come back with me." _Got to put the right amount of salesmanship into this, Jesse-me-boy.__ Play on that crush, but not lead her on. Don't lie to her. She's had too much of that recently. Let her come to me._

"What do you want?" The shadow moved a step closer. And, almost casually, "I know you're a freak. Like me."

_Now we come to the heart of the matter_. "I prefer the term mutant," Jesse said, striving for equal calmness. "Genetically evolved will also do. Scientifically speaking, the phrase is _homo sapien superioris_." He paused. "They're scared of us, you know. All the normals. They're scared of you."

"Scared of me?" It was a new concept. Another step forward. "Them? I'm just a kid."

"A kid with power. Who's going to grow up." He cocked his head. "Or do you think that I arrived on Earth fully grown?"

The ring on Jesse's finger crackled, and Adam's voice came through, hurried and urgent. "Jesse! Get her out of there! We've got three more heading in your direction, and Brennan's down! Emma and I are going to intercept."

_Dammit! Rotten timing._ He had won her heart, and almost enough of her trust to get her out of here safely. What had happened to the elemental? He lifted his hand to answer back through the ring. "I hear you. I'll get her away, and meet you back at the van."

"What is that thing?" Tess all but screeched, jumping back.

"We have to leave. Now," Jesse urged. This time he did extend his hand to her. "I can keep you safe, but you have to trust me."

"Thanks, but I'd rather trust me." Tess dove into the child-sized pipe and vanished into the adjoining building.

Jesse wasn't about to give up now. Exhaling, he shifted into near vapor, and stepped through the solid brick wall.

He re-materialized on the other side. It was brighter there, overhead lights illuminating every corner, bright enough to make him squint. There were half a dozen desks scattered around the room, the cheap desks used for work and not for show, that family pictures wouldn't fit on but scattered piles of paper would. The floor was dirty linoleum; the occupants couldn't even afford cheap carpeting to muffle the noise.

And there was an incredible amount of noise, most of it coming from Tess. Her actions had been anticipated, for there was a posse of men ready and waiting to capture her inside this very building. One man had been stupid enough to grab her by the arm. Noise was one tactic; teeth were another. She sank the only real weapon she had into the man's arm, and clamped down hard. He yelped, and shook her loose.

It was all Tess needed. She dodged a desk, putting it between her and her attacker, and ran. "Jesse!" she screeched, begging for help.

Jesse jumped in the way. He had to keep them from getting Tess! "Adam!" he yelled into the comm ring. "I need a hand in here!" He massed, and slugged the man who was still nursing his arm. One down, two to go. "Tess, get out. I'll meet you outside!"

"Come with me," she pleaded. Jesse could hear the terror in her voice. What a time to freeze in fear! After freeing herself, Tess now seemed rooted to the floor.

Jesse chanced another look. The third man had another trank gun, like the one that had downed his teammate, while the second was dodging around desks to get at them. Jesse couldn't afford to let any of those darts touch either himself or Tess. The man with the gun took aim at the girl.

Jesse jumped in front of her, massing solid as he did so. The dart bounced harmlessly off his suddenly rock hard figure to drop harmlessly to the linoleum floor.

There was no time to lose. Dragging her to the far wall, he de-materialized the solid brick façade and ushered her through, following. A dart slid through, gliding through the airy surface and shooting off over their heads. Both ducked with fear.

"You did it!" Tess exclaimed, her eyes glowing. "You saved us."

"Not yet." Jesse scanned the area. "It won't take them long to find us. Let's find my friends. They'll be coming for us, and they have a van; we can leave this place far behind." He glanced sideways at her. "Unless you like it here."

"Not a chance." She held out her hand to him. "We're outta here."

_Yes!_ Jesse exulted. _Trust is here!_ He took the proffered hand.

It was a mistake. Jesse immediately felt the drain of something, something pulling at every cell of his body. His knees buckled. His vision dimmed. He didn't even realize that he'd fallen until his cheek smashed into the broken pavement, cold against his skin.

He struggled to let go of Tess's hand, but she clutched at him with all the strength that he no longer possessed. Too late he understood what Emma had felt from the girl: longing, yes, but not a teen-age crush. It was the need to pull his mutant power from him.

But for what purpose? Why was she doing this? Was Tess a psychic vampire, driven to suck the life out of mutants? Then why hadn't she killed him the first time she'd been alone with him? Because that's what had happened. It hadn't been concussion; Jesse was certain of that.

The answer was there, if only he could see it. It was on the tip of his tongue…

*          *          *

"Adam! Over here!" Dimly, Jesse recognized Emma's worried voice. "Come quick!" Tender hands helped him turn over, held him down when he tried feebly to get up. "Just stay where you are, Jesse. Let Adam look at you."

"Tess," Jesse croaked.

"Did they get her?" Adam peered into Jesse's eyes. Jesse focused blearily. Adam's face still looked a blur.

"No. She got away."

"Where are you hurt?" Jesse could feel Adam's professional fingers probing his skull, looking for a point of impact that wasn't there. _It's not concussion_, he wanted to say. Nothing worked. It hurt to breathe.

"She went this way." Shalimar's voice penetrated the darkness.

"They must be after her. Emma, you and Shalimar go after her. I'll get Jesse back to the van. Be careful; those men, whoever they are, are right behind her."

"I hope they are." The feral clearly wanted to get a little of her own back.

It was at times like this that Jesse was forced to remember how strong Adam was. They all had a tendency to consider the older man as someone who needed to be protected, someone to be guarded from the forces of evil so that Dr. Kane could continue his intellectual research unhindered.

But Adam Kane regularly worked out with the Mutant X team, even beating them through sheer deviousness when they didn't resort to using their powers. "Healthy mind, healthy body," he would smile. That phrase came to Jesse's thoughts as Adam pulled Jesse's arm over his shoulders, hoisting him to his feet and helping the mutant stagger the hundred yards to the dingy van where Shalimar had stashed Brennan not ten minutes earlier.

Brennan was already sprawled in the front seat. Levering open his eyelids was the only action the still-tranked elemental could manage.

Adam maneuvered Jesse onto the back seat, easing him back against the cushions. "Just rest," he told the mutant. "The girls will be back with Tess, and we'll take you all back to Sanctuary."

"Adam—"

"Shh. Two concussions, in less than forty-eight hours? I'm grounding you for a week, Jesse."

It was the last words Adam uttered. A soft hiss, and the scientist slapped at his neck. His hand came away with yet another tranquilizer dart.

"Wha—?"

*          *          *

It was Shalimar who spotted the heat signature with feral vision made keen through the night. Emma guided them in the general direction, but Shalimar honed in on the young girl. The blonde led them into a tumble-down building, one that screamed "deserted" but in fact housed a pair of very scared youngsters. The two teammates made their way into a small room with holes in the walls, and one in the ceiling. Large chunks of plaster had already landed on the floor, throwing plaster dust over everything. Emma barely suppressed a cough. There was a torn mattress in one corner, and a couple of stained and flattened pillows in the other that served as a chair. Old newspapers kept out the cold from one of the holes in the wall.

"Stay away from us!" There was desperation in Tess's voice, that of a kid with no way out. "I'll kill you!"

"You can try," Shalimar grunted.

Emma shot the feral a remonstrating look. "Tess, we're not here to hurt you. We're friends of Jesse." _Why does that make her more frightened?_ "Is this your brother?" she asked, spotting the smaller figure huddled beneath a threadbare blanket, shivering in the cold autumn night air.

"Don't touch him!"

"It's okay, Tess," a little voice piped up. "They're friends. I can tell."

"Ernest!" Tess whirled on him. "Shut up!"

"No, Tess." Ernest struggled up from the covers. "We can't do it any more. I told you before."

"And I told you to shut up! Do you want to go back?"

"Back to your parents?" Shalimar asked, trying to keep the sympathy out of her voice. Tess wouldn't have appreciated it, wouldn't be able to understand the _been__ there, done_ that perspective that the feral had. That most mutant children had.

"Ernest, you're stronger now. I got you the charge that you needed." Tess was all but pleading. "We can run again."

"We can't keep running forever," Ernest said firmly. "I don't wanna go home, but I wanna be like it was, before Mom went away."

"Well, it can't," Tess snapped. "Mom's gone."

"Where is she?" Emma inserted, hoping that she didn't already know the answer. Tess just glared at her. "And your father?"

Both kids looked down at the floor at that one.

"You don't have to go back there," Shalimar urged. "Come with us. We'll find a place that you can be safe. Where no one will hassle you, just because you're different."

"I wanna go with them, Tess," Ernest said. He slipped out from underneath the blanket. His form wavered slightly, going insubstantial, then solidifying.

"You're a molecular," Shalimar realized. And, as the kid faded again, "and you're out of control."

"No, he's not," Tess contradicted frantically. "He just needs another boost. He's better now."

"Jesse," Emma nodded. It had become clear. "You're the psionic, Tess. You took some of Jesse's power to stabilize your brother."

"He's okay, right?" Tess asked sullenly. "Your friend, I mean. I didn't hurt him, or nothing, did I?"

"He'll be fine," Emma said, hoping that she was right. The memory of Adam hauling the staggering mutant back to the van and safety wasn't reassuring. It wasn't concussion, as Adam had originally thought, but the draining from this child psionic. But Jesse had recovered after the first time Tess had drawn a charge from him. It was only sensible to assume the same would be true for this episode.

"Tess, I wanna go with them," Ernest repeated stubbornly. "They're the good guys. I can tell."

"Right," Tess said sarcastically. "And I thought I was supposed to be the brain freak around here." She looked at Shalimar and Emma, a calculating look in her eye. "You promise you'll take care of us? Not make us do stuff that hurts?"

"We promise—" Shalimar started to say, when Emma stopped her.

"We promise to keep you as safe as we possibly can," the psionic said carefully, "but it looks like your brother will need help. Medical help, the type that our friend Adam can give him. Sometimes that means hurting, like taking blood. But any hurting will be to help him, and you. And you'll know about it in advance. That fair?"

Tess nodded slowly, impressed with Emma's honesty. "All right. We'll come with you. But first, I gotta give Ernest this charge. If I don't do it soon, it just fades away," she explained. "Don't wanna waste it."

"I guess that means you can't give it back to Jesse," Shalimar said wryly.

Tess nodded soberly, not recognizing the sarcasm for what it was. "Yeah." She turned to her brother. "You ready?" Ernest bobbed his head.

Tess put her hand on his cheek. Both Emma and Shalimar could see the power transfer, saw the glow that enveloped the girl's hand and slowly moved onto Ernest's face, covering his head and sinking in. In a heartbeat, the boy turned solid so that no echoes of objects behind him could be seen.

Ernest grinned. The mischievous glint in his brown eyes was back. "Let's go."

*          *          *

They all could see the open doors to the white van from two blocks away; that, and no sign of movement. Shalimar exchanged a worried look with Emma, and broke into a run.

"We'll wait here for Shalimar," Emma said, pushing the two children into a dark doorway. It wasn't completely out of the light, but it would serve for a few moments.

Shalimar darted to the van. "Adam!" she exclaimed, seeing the older man collapsed across the seat. Swiftly she felt for a pulse, exhaling in relief when she found it, strong and steady.

Adam groaned. "Shalimar?"

"Shh. Right here. What happened?" Shalimar spotted the empty dart lying on the ground beside the van. There was no one else nearby, and she motioned to the other three to come over. "Where's Brennan and Jesse?"

Adam groaned again. "Maguire."

Shalimar shifted the man to a more comfortable position. "We've got them. Both of them, Adam. Tess and Ernest Maguire."

"That's not what he means," Emma said. "Is it, Adam?"

"Emma…"

"He recognized the name Maguire when Jesse brought it up on the computer," Emma pursued. "It wasn't from Tess and Ernest, was it, Adam?"

"No," Adam admitted, beaten by the combination of Emma's talents and the drug. "But I didn't think it would make any difference. I still don't."

"My father," Tess put in coldly.

Shalimar stared. "I take it that your upbringing wasn't the typical 'I'm a freak, so my parents abused me out of love' type of situation."

Adam held his head in his hands, trying to push his brains back in after the assault by the drugs. "Absalom Maguire was a brilliant geneticist, but he fixated on the wrong line of research. He believed that successful mutations could only be effected before birth."

"Before birth?" Shalimar was horrified. "Adam, you're talking about eugenics. Planned breeding for people! Like cattle, or dogs!"

"Not the way Absalom wanted it," Adam said tiredly. "He had his own methods, methods that the scientific community disagreed with on an ethical level. But Maguire's real problem turned out to be that his way wasn't fast enough for Genomex. Eckhart fired him. I lost track of Maguire, and his work. I thought that he'd gone into business somewhere, something less radical. Something with an established pharmaceutical company, where he could make a decent living." He paused. "Absalom never published anything. That was normal, for cutting edge pharmaceuticals." He fixed bleary eyes on Tess and Ernest. "I take it that wasn't the case."

"Ernest was the special one," Tess said, eyes on the ground. "Everybody… Our father thought that he'd failed with me. That I wasn't a freak."

"A mutant," Adam corrected quietly but firmly.

"Ernest could make things solid, and then like gas. Our father used to use him to do stuff."

"What stuff, Ernest?" Emma asked, trying to encourage the younger boy.

"He used to make me make diamonds. And emeralds, and other gems. It was hard, but I could do it. I just made the rock stuff get harder than it was. Then he would sell the gems, to get money to buy more equipment." Ernest scowled at his shoes. One toe had a hole in it, and a toe was peeking through.

"Artificial gemstones," Adam whispered. "I'd never thought of that application." He seemed to throw off the effects of the tranquilizer dart, the drive for knowledge taking precedence over everything else. "What else did he make you do, Ernest?"

Ernest's face clouded over. "I don't want to talk about it."

"And you can't make him," Tess defended her brother. She turned on Emma. "You promised!"

"I did. Ernest doesn't have to talk about anything that he doesn't want to." Emma was firm. "Right, Adam?"

Adam sighed. "Right." He turned to Tess. "Tess, when did your mutation manifest?" He stopped, and translated, "when did you realize that you were different, after all?"

Tess scowled, then relented. Adam was trying to be as nice as he could, not saying 'freak'. "'Bout a year ago."

"And--?" Adam prompted.

"There was this kid in the neighborhood. We used to play together. She always beat me at games and stuff, like she knew what I was thinking. Turns out she really did. Then I found out I could do the same thing, after I touched her. So I used to try to touch her a lot. When I figured out what was going on, I realized that I had been getting charges off a lot of people, mostly kids. But this one girl, Ashley, she was a mind freak. Whenever I would touch her, I could read people's minds, too. So I did, 'cause it was fun. Then it wasn't so fun, around the adults. I couldn't shut anything out. I found out what everybody was thinking."

"Including your father," Adam concluded.

Tess nodded. "So we left."

_And by then, Ernest was pretty traumatized_, Shalimar couldn't help thinking. Then Shalimar felt guilty for blaming Tess: as an adolescent, wrapped up in her own troubles, Tess wouldn't have realized how bad off Ernest was until she started reading minds. But, back to the present: "Those goons work for your father."

Tess shrugged. "Yeah."

"So why did they take Brennan and Jesse? Weren't they after you?"

Tess shrugged again. "Mostly Ernest. Not much use for my kind of freak."

Adam met their eyes. "Jesse has the same type of mutation as Ernest."

*          *          *

Not only was the water cold, it was wet. Brennan shivered. _Hope I don't catch pneumonia._

Not that he'd had much choice in the matter. He'd woken up to find himself tied up in the back of a truck. Jesse was there as well, in no better condition than Brennan himself. Worse, actually: one of the cheap-suited goons held a pistol to his head, making it clear that any action by Brennan would result in Jesse acquiring a messy hole in his head. Brennan didn't try to object, just settled down to sleep off the rest of the tranquilizer.

He'd felt for his comm ring. It was missing. Obviously these geniuses had removed it, and a quick glance at Jesse confirmed that the molecular's ring was likewise gone. That meant that Adam and the girls wouldn't be able to find them. No rescue. It was up to Brennan and Jesse.

Great.

They forced Brennan into a plexiglass tub of water large enough to be considered a pool. The sides ran up higher than Brennan's head, though the water only came to mid-chest. Brennan rapped experimentally on the clear surface. It was several inches thick, which meant a solid kick, even if he could manage it through the water, wouldn't be likely to shatter the plexiglass. An electrical jolt would, but would also fry Brennan in the process. Someone around here had a good knowledge of mutant activity.

This didn't look like a Genomex complex. Genomex tended toward the high end toys, spending money as though it was the water Brennan was currently immersed in. And it was dirty. Housekeeping was one of the chores left undone, probably for lack of finances, and nobody had bothered to purchase a broom to sweep out the dust bunnies collecting in all four corners of the warehouse.

Brennan looked around. Breaking out wasn't going to be easy. Visibility was high in this room, since nobody bothered putting in walls. One corner was devoted to a bank of computers that Jesse would drool to get his hands on once he was conscious. Another corner, decorated with a rickety table and folding chairs, was presumably the employee lounge. 

In the center were two large workbenches. One supported a cacophony of glassware with multi-colored liquids filtering through; Dr. Frankenstein would have been proud to see this jumble. Open flames gently heated the contents within, and bubbles rose through the glass lines. Brennan suppressed an urge to shoot a bolt of electricity at the unholy mess. That action would have turned Brennan himself into an equally unholy mess.

The other workbench held a more frightening tableau. Jesse was sprawled across the table, semi-conscious, held there by the same men that Brennan remembered fighting with. The one with the black eye tossed the elemental a dirty look and a sneer as he twisted Jesse's arm back behind him. He grabbed Jesse by the hair, wrenching his head back.

There was an older man there, with white disheveled hair that made Brennan think the man was trying too hard to be Einstein, who was clearly in charge. He was shorter than any of the hired help but just as obviously calling the shots. He held a black collar in his hands. As the man with the shiner yanked Jesse's head back, the white-haired man seized the opportunity to slide the collar around Jesse's throat, buckling it tight. Jesse shuddered, and moaned.

Brennan beat against the plexiglass barrier. "Hey! What are you doing to him?"

The old man glared at him. "Be quiet."  
            "You're hurting him. Stop it!"

Exasperated, the old man walked up to Brennan's plexiglass cage. "You. You're another mutant."

"Well, duh."

"My people say you control electricity. Is that accurate?"

"What do you think?"

The old man wasn't taken in. "I think that that is indeed accurate. If you had another mutation, you would already be out of this cell and rescuing your friend. This water is all that is holding you back. Fear of electrocuting yourself." He picked up a black rock and displayed it to Brennan. "You asked what I was doing. You see this rock? This lump of coal? Do you know what coal is made of? Carbon atoms, arranged haphazardly. Do you know what a diamond is? A diamond is also carbon atoms, atoms that are not arranged haphazardly. Do you know how a diamond is made, young man?"

"Wouldn't want to stop you now. Keep asking questions for yourself to answer."

"It is formed deep within the bowels of the earth, through heat and pressure. Heath and pressure rearrange those carbon atoms until they are aligned into one of the hardest substances known to man." He suddenly changed the subject, and Brennan blinked at the rapid shift, not quite certain how sane the man was. "Are you aware that research is a costly venture?"

Brennan flicked a few droplets of water at the plexiglass shell. "Ask me if I care."

"I suspect you do not. But I do. And I am aware that you are attempting to find my son, which leads me to believe that you are not as stupid as you are trying to sound. And neither is your friend over there." He gestured to Jesse.

It started to make sense. "You're Tess's father."

"Yes, that girl is doing a fine job of hiding her brother from me. But that no longer matters. Your friend has similar qualities as my son. So we shall see if he is capable of performing similar actions. I'm even hoping that he will demonstrate more stamina, since he is older and presumably stronger. Ernest was never a strong lad." Maguire held up the lump of coal. "Observe." Maguire placed the lump of coal in Jesse's hand. The molecular, still semi-conscious, barely understood what was going on. Jesse took a swing at Maguire, but the man with the shiner caught his arm easily, forcing it behind Jesse's back. He slammed the molecular against the workbench. Brennan stared through the plexiglass sheeting, wondering what Maguire intended to do.

"Mutants are capable of doing a great deal more than they think they can," Maguire said almost conversationally. "For example, your friend would never believe that he could change this lump of coal into a diamond." He set the dials on the control panel sitting on the workbench, and flipped the switch.

There wasn't enough breath for a scream. Agony twisted through the Jesse's body, making him writhe until Brennan couldn't stand to watch. Maguire kept Jesse's hand firmly closed around the lump of coal until some unknown signal alerted him to turn the collar off. The man with the shiner shoved Jesse back across the table, keeping the mutant from sliding bonelessly to the floor.

"You bastard!" Brennan swore. "What did you do to him?"

Maguire held the new diamond up to his eye, twinkling so that Brennan could see it. "Magnificent, isn't it? I estimate that it's some three carats in this form. It will probably end up being slightly under two once it's cut. Nicely done, I'd say. This will let me afford that new centrifuge I've been looking at." He looked back at Brennan. "I'm not doing this for me, you understand. It's for the world. Think of what we can achieve: eradication of all illness, both genetic and bacterial. Built-in immunity to all the viruses that plague mankind." He motioned to the diamond. "Jewels for every person on Earth."

He looked back at Brennan. "What did I do to him? I took control of his powers. With that collar on his neck, positioned over the brain stem, I applied additional stimuli that caused his abilities to far exceed what he typically can accomplish. I can do that for all mutants. In fact, I may do it for you. Electricity, isn't that your mutation? I've always wanted a back-up generator." Maguire gestured to his men. "Let the mutant rest there for a bit. He's drained; he won't be any use to us for several hours, nor will he be any trouble. Come. There's other work to be done. We still have my son to find. Two molecular mutants will be much better than one." Maguire paused to cast a thoughtful gaze over Jesse, collapsed against the workbench. "I wonder if there's a way to use them in tandem. My word. Think of the possibilities." Maguire disappeared through the far end of the warehouse, a double door that led to who knew what.

Brennan didn't care. Getting out of this mess had become his number one priority.

*          *          *

"You gotta take care of Ernest, first." Tess folded her arms, trying to look obstinate. It was an expression she was good at.

"I will," Adam promised, "but we have to find Brennan and Jesse. Do you, or do you not know where your father's laboratory is?" Had Shalimar even been this difficult when she was growing up? Adam couldn't remember. _Maybe I don't want to remember_. "Tess, it will take time to synthesize a serum to stabilize your brother. Brennan and Jesse don't have that time."

"Better hustle."

Was it the hangover from the tranquilizer dart or sheer frustration that made him him want to administer a badly needed spanking? Adam really wished that Ernest knew where Maguire's laboratory was as well as his older sister. Ernest had already been won over. He gave an exasperated snort.

Emma took over. "Tess, Jesse needs you. Remember what he's already done for Ernest. If he hadn't been there, Ernest might not be alive right now." She drew the girl aside, apart from the others so they couldn't listen in, or so Tess would suppose. "The others don't think so, but I know better. You like Jesse, don't you?"

"No."

Emma smiled. "C'mon, Tess. You can't fool me; I'm an empath."

"I pretended to have a crush on him because he's a freak just like Ernest. It was the only way I could get close to him." Tess wouldn't meet Emma's eyes.

"Then you don't care what your father will do to him." Emma _leaned_ just a bit, just enough to get through. "What he did to Ernest." _Bite your lip any harder, girl, and blood will spurt out._ "Ernest didn't like it, either. He felt really bad afterward. You know; you were there. You took care of Ernest after he did things for your father." 

Misery leaked out of Tess, and Emma had to close down her shields to maintain her composure. Emma felt tears trying to escape her own eyes. But she pushed ahead. "Jesse won't have anyone to take care of him."

"The electricity guy's there." Almost a sob.

"Your father won't trust Brennan like he did you. He thought you were only a little girl, someone who couldn't get your brother and you out of there. He was wrong, and he won't make the same mistake with Brennan." Emma paused. "Are you scared, Tess?"

Tess nodded, no longer the street-wise tough. A single tear traced a dusty path down her cheek. "He really hurt Ernest. And he would've hurt me, too, if he knew how much I could do. He's got this collar thing."

Emma could feel Adam urging her to pursue that. "What collar thing, Tess?"

"He would put it around my neck," Ernest put in. The ten year old was also upset, far beyond what a child should go through. He huddled close to Tess, instinctively touching her only through clothing, no skin to skin contact. "He made it real tight. I never knew what happened after that, but it hurt real bad. It hurt to breathe, later. My throat always got real sore, too."

Shalimar closed her eyes. "Sore from screaming," she murmured so that only Adam could hear her.

"Ernest always got real sick after that." Tess wasn't holding back any longer. "That was when he started to fade in and out. Even _he_ got worried about that, wouldn't make Ernest do the collar thing right away. But Ernest got better, even though it took longer and longer. Then he started to fade without the collar, and I knew I had to get him away before he faded all together." She looked up at Emma, pleading for understanding.

"You did the right thing," Emma said gently, Adam nodding in agreement. "You saved Ernest's life."

Tears were running down Ernest's face as well. "She did. It was real scary being there."

Adam hunkered down beside the boy, trying not to seem threatening. "Ernest, what did your father make you do? Besides make diamonds."

"I don't remember." Ernest looked away uneasily. "It was cold in there. And it smelled like bleach. And there were lots of people crying. I don't want to think about it."

"It's all right. I won't make you go back there," Adam promised. "I'll do everything in my power to make sure that you never have to do that again. But it would help me if you could tell me what it was that your father was trying to do."

"I don't remember!"

"Ernest—"

"I don't remember! I don't remember!" Ernest screamed. He burrowed his head in Tess's shoulder. "I don't remember!"

"All right. All right. I won't ask you to." Adam backed off hurriedly.

"Leave him alone!" Tess demanded. "Leave him alone, or we'll run away again!"

"I don't think that would be such a smart idea," Shalimar pointed out. "Look at Ernest. He's fading again."

Horrified, Tess stared at her brother. Shalimar was right: the boy again was ghosting away. She could see the fabric of the sofa that he was sitting on right through him, the pillow behind him coming through with its bold print.

"You don't have much choice right now, Tess," Adam said. There was no more time to treat her like the young adolescent that she was. Some children were forced to grow up faster than others, as harsh as that was. All four of Adam's team had been through the same type of ordeal. "I can't make a serum to stabilize your brother in less than forty-eight hours, if that. The only way to stabilize him is for you to give him another charge from Jesse." _And I don't want that to happen, either. Tess's powers are hard on other mutants._ "And the only way to get a charge from Jesse is to rescue him. Tell me where your father's laboratory is."

Tess wilted. "All right!" She took a deep breath. "I don't know the address, exactly. I gotta take you there. But no way is Ernest getting near that place!"

"Deal." Shalimar jumped in. "Lead me to it."

*          *          *

"Jesse!" Brennan hissed. "Jesse!"

It seemed incredible, but Maguire had left the pair of mutants completely unguarded. He had taken all of his people with him to do whatever needed doing in the back room, and the warehouse where Brennan and Jesse were was empty save for the two of them.

Maybe it wasn't a mistake. Brennan was trapped, unable to either break the plexiglass container that he was in manually or with his powers. One jolt of electricity, and Maguire would be serving parboiled Mulray for dinner.

And Jesse? The molecular mutant looked as bad as Brennan had ever seen him, pale as a ghost and shivering. Brennan wondered if Jesse was in shock, after what had been done to him. What had Maguire done to him? Brennan didn't know; Adam could no doubt puzzle it out, but, frankly, Brennan wanted Adam to do that several miles from here. And the only way to get out was to rouse Jesse out of his stupor.

"Jesse!" Brennan hissed again.

Jesse raised his head. _Yes!_ "Brennan?"

"That's it, buddy. Time to get up."  
            "Brennan?"

Brennan groaned. Whatever Maguire had done to him, it had scrambled Jesse's brains. This was going to be a very long next few minutes. "Jesse, I need you to get up and get over here. We are in trouble."

"Brennan?"

"That's right, Jess. You can do it. Up from the table." _Oops_. "Now up from the floor. Crawling is okay. Just get your butt over here."

"Where are we?"

_Good. More thinking is coming from Jesse's brain. We may get out of this yet_. "I'm not sure. Not a good place. I'd like to get out of here."

"And you are where?"

"Open your eyes, Jess."

"I'd rather not. The light hurts my eyes. Is this a hangover?"

"You wish. Just another three feet, and you're there."

"What is this?" Jesse knocked up against the plexiglass barrier.

"My own personal hot tub, without the heater. It's damn cold in here, Jess. Can you open it up?"

"Open it up?"

"The plexiglass, Jess. Phase it. Open it up, so the water drains out. Then I can get out of this thing, and get you out of here."

"Oh. Can you repeat that? Slowly? I'm not thinking too clearly right now."  
            Brennan cursed under his breath. At least his friend was sounding more coherent. "Put your hand on the glass. That's it. Now phase. Phase, Jess. Come on, you can do it."

"No, I can't."

"Yes, you can. Try, Jess."

"I'm trying." Jesse gritted his teeth. Exhaling, he willed the wall to turn to insubstantial molecules, letting the water seep through.

"That's it, Jess! You're getting it!"

Grunting, Jesse held on as long as he could. But the water was only down to Brennan's waist when the molecular mutant fell away from the wall.

"Jesse! Jess! Wake up!"

Jesse was face down in the water that had spilled out. It should be enough to wake him up, Brennan thought sourly.

"Try again," he urged. If only there was a way to splash some of this water onto Jesse's face! He pushed against the plexiglass, willing his own strength into the molecular.

It seemed to work, even if it was only Brennan's imagination. Jesse propped one hand against the glass. Gathering his energy, he exhaled.

Water flowed out more quickly; the surface was more porous this time. Jesse cried out with the effort.

"That's it, Jesse, you're doing it!" Brennan called out. The water flowed faster and faster, the level dropping to his thigh. "Keep going!" Just a bit more, and it would be low enough for Brennan to kick out the plexiglass. He still wouldn't be able to use his powers; he was soaked, and the charge would kill him and Jesse both. But, first things first: out of his cage.

"Hey!"

Not fast enough. Brennan cursed under his breath. His friend with the shiner had come back to check on them, and called hurriedly to the others. Three more piled out and converged, Maguire hustling after them.

But Jesse wasn't done yet. Adrenaline gave him power. As the man with the shiner approached, Jesse massed one fist and gave him a matching set of black eyes.

"Get 'im, Jess!" There was hope. Brennan battered at the plexiglass, hoping to shatter it. Jesse swung a roundhouse kick, taking out another goon but dropping himself to the floor as well. Better hurry.

"Stop."

Maguire's voice was thin, but piercing. Both Brennan and Jesse paused, as did the rest of Maguire's men. Maguire held another remote control in his hand. Jesse glanced at the table; it wasn't the fiendish device that controlled the collar on his neck. His fuzziness was quickly draining away. Amazing what a little adrenaline could do.

"One more move, mutant," Maguire threatened, "and I'll electrocute your friend." He held the remote higher, finger poised.

"He's bluffing, Jesse." Brennan had no idea whether he was or not. But staying in this watery prison was not an option.

"Want to find out?" Maguire invited. "If you're wrong, not only does your friend get fried, but he drowns as well." He smiled coldly. "I see that you've recovered from your earlier exertions. If you'll be so kind as to move away from the water chamber?"

"Don't do it, Jesse."

Jesse shook his head. "I don't have a choice, Brennan." He picked himself up off of the floor, holding out his hands in surrender.

"Very good." Maguire lowered the remote, but kept it at the ready. "If you are so recovered by now, I think I can use your services in the back room. Gentlemen, if you please?"

His men took charge of the molecular, escorting him to the back of the warehouse and out through the double doors that they'd entered through.

"Jesse!" Brennan yelled.

*          *          *

Not scared, Tess chanted to herself. _Not scared_.

The jet was way cool. Double Helix, Shalimar called it, flying it through the sky faster than Tess had ever gone. Emma was in the other front seat, the co-pilot's seat, with Tess looking on in envy at all the various dials. Sanctuary had been a neat place, too. Ernest was still back there, with Adam looking after him, although Tess had insisted on putting her brother to bed with a warm blanket—a good one this time, provided by Emma, thick and comfy and clean and the bed worthy of being called a bed and not a worn out mattress. Ernest had eaten, too, although not as well as Tess would've liked. It was clear that the charge she'd given him from Jesse was wearing off. He'd need another one soon. That, or the serum that Dr. Adam was working on.

When they landed, they left the jet invisible, so that the locals wouldn't find it. Tess took a few moments to get her bearings, then led off toward the west. It was the manufacturing district where her father had his laboratory, the part that wasn't doing so well. It was cheap. He never seemed to have enough money for stuff, even his equipment. Always scrimping, eating peanut butter five nights a week.

She found the laboratory without difficulty. Tess knew exactly where it was, had avoided going near it so many times that she could locate it from almost any part of the city. It was a huge warehouse, in a dilapidated part of town, trash covering the streets where even the garbage men didn't like to travel with their big trucks. There weren't any signs; her father didn't want to part with the money. "My clients know where to find me," he would say to Ernest. Never to her; only to Ernest. Tess was the disappointment to him.

The lab was also sealed almost airtight. The windows were boarded over, and the doors heavy and locked. Absalom Maguire clearly didn't want unauthorized personnel getting in, be they uninvited guests, federal inspection agents, or even customers. Although what kind of customers a man like Maguire might court didn't bear thinking about. Shalimar and Emma searched the exterior, looking in vain for a way in.

"We could really use Jesse about now," Shalimar complained. "How do we get in? I could break down a door, but we'd lose the element of surprise. Not a good plan."

"I know a way in," Tess volunteered. "It's the way that Ernest and I escaped."

"Show me," Shalimar requested.

Tess's route turned out to be a ventilation duct located just above the first floor of the three story building. It wasn't easy to get to; Shalimar ended up jumping to a scant ledge and pulling off the grating before falling back down to the ground. Like a cat, she landed on her feet. 

"It was better getting out than getting in," Tess explained. "Neither Ernest or I can jump like you can. We just kinda fell out, and ran. Ernest sprained his wrist."

"Nobody can jump like Shalimar," Emma said under her breath, but with a smile.

"Jumping, yeah. But that vent is tiny. I'm amazed you were able to squeeze through," Shalimar said. 

"It wasn't easy," Tess admitted. "I got stuck once, almost couldn't get out. Ernest slid through without any problems. He's skinny."

"So how are we going to get through there?" Emma asked. "Maybe we'd better kept looking. You and I both, Shal, are bigger than Tess."

"Simple," Tess jumped in. "I go in, unlock the door, and let you guys in."

"Not a chance," Shalimar returned. "Too dangerous. Out of the question."

"Got a better idea?" Tess challenged. The two women looked at each other. Tess grinned. "Hah. Got you. C'mon, boost me up."

"All right, but no chances; hear me? Get in, unlock the door, even if it looks easy to break the boys out."

"Right," Tess smirked. And only Emma knew the fear she was hiding.

*          *          *

Cold, wet, _and_ drowning. Raccoon-face—that's what he looked like, now that he had a matching set of shiners—took his revenge on Brennan by refilling the watery prison almost to the top. Brennan was tall, but it wasn't enough; even on his toes he couldn't get his face to the scant three inches of air that was left between the water's surface and the clear plexiglass lid across the top. It took all his time and effort just to keep his head treading above water. Literally.

_All right, Mulray, think!_ There had to be a way out of this. The rest of team would be looking for them; how could he send a signal? There was a whole computer bank over there in the corner, but to get there he'd have to get out of his fish tank. There were more than one set of doors—the locks were no problem—but again, there was the aquarium thing.

Back to square one. The lid was on too tight, and he couldn't get up enough force to push it off, not and tread water at the same time. Likewise, he couldn't kick out the side through the slowing effect of the water. And there was always the let's-not-drown issue.

He tried not to think about Jesse. What was going on in that back room? Nothing pleasant, of that he was certain. What had already gone on in front of Brennan was bad enough. Would Jesse be alive when they were able to get him out? Brennan missed a kick, and sputtered out a mouthful of water.

Something clattered behind him. Raccoon-face must have come back. Brennan twisted around to see what the man wanted.

It wasn't Raccoon-face. It was Tess. Brennan had only seen her from a distance, and in her missing child photo, but the dark hair and angry cold eyes were unmistakable. Right now those eyes were scared and unhappy.

Brennan took a chance. "Tess! Get me out of here!" He bobbed in the water, taking another gulp of air.

She approached his watery prison. "You Brennan? Where's Jesse?"

"Yes! Hurry! Jesse's in the back, with your father."

Another flash of fear, to be replaced by an expression that Brennan instantly recognized from frequent use in his own adolescent years: the I'm-going-to-cause-trouble-by-doing-what-I'm-told look. Brennan had a moment of trepidation which he instantly quashed. He was getting out!

Tess picked up a hefty fire extinguisher from the corner of the room near the computers. It was a cheap model, but solid. With a level of strength that Brennan wouldn't have credited her with, she slammed it into the side of the plexiglass barrier.

Water gushed out. Tess jumped back to avoid getting splashed. As soon as the water was low enough, Brennan enlarged the hole and scraped himself out, drenched and shivering from the cold water.

He tried to take charge. "All right, let's get you out of here where it's safe. Then I'll go after Jesse."

"Emma and Shalimar are outside," Tess offered.

"Good. Let's get you with them."

"He's out! Stop them!"

Raccoon-face had the worst timing, Brennan decided on the spot. He shoved Tess behind him. He couldn't use his powers, water-soaked as he was, but that didn't mean Brennan Mulray was defenseless.

Although six of 'em wouldn't be a walk in the park, either. "Run!" he yelled at Tess. "Get Shal and Emma!" That would even up the odds in a hurry.

"Theresa Agatha Maguire!" The thin voice cracked like a whip across the broad expense of the warehouse floor. Tess cringed in instinctive terror. "Get over here this instant! You worthless excuse for a child! Where is your brother?"

"I…I…"

Brennan couldn't help it; he shot her an amused look. "Agatha?"

Maguire advanced on them, his goons spreading out. "You will bring your brother to me, Theresa Agatha Maguire! He has chores to do!"

It was the point of no return. Brennan had seen it in others, even felt it himself on occasions that he'd rather forget. It was the point where even personal safety, personal survival held no meaning. Where lashing back at the one thing, or person, that had hurt you so badly was the only thing that mattered.

Brennan saw that look on Tess's face. He saw it the moment that Maguire threatened Ernest, Tess's little brother.

He felt Tess grab his hand, bare skin to bare skin. He felt the draining sensation that Jesse must have felt, and never realized what he was feeling. Adam had thought that it might have been concussion. Adam had been wrong. Tess had stolen Jesse's power, just as she was stealing his now. Darkness wavered at the edges of his vision.

"Tess, don't…"

"And 'Agatha' wasn't my choice," she hissed at him. Her eyes were no longer cold and scared. They were flashing with fire. His fire. Brennan's powers.

No time for this. Cursing inwardly, Brennan blocked Raccoon-face's punch, only barely keeping it from relocating his jaw. Not only had Tess taken his powers, but she'd hijacked his strength as well. No wonder Jesse had looked concussed. Brennan felt as though he was still wading through the water in the plexiglass prison.

Tess flung bolt after bolt of electricity. The man blocking her path to her father went flying, blasted out of the way. _One down_, Brennan cheered, and saw stars when Raccoon-face connected. _Pay attention, Mulray!_ A mis-directed zap took out the computer banks. They erupted in an electronic explosion, causing the lighting to flicker. Burning insulation filled the cavernous room with smoke. That didn't matter; Raccoon-face kicked Brennan in the sweet spot, and breathing was out of the question.

Maguire, his jaw hanging open in shock, prudently retreated to the back room but Tess wasn't about to let him escape. She pursued him, sending two more of his hirelings flying out of the way with a furious wave of her hand.

Brennan dropped to his knees to avoid a blow to his head. It was easier than blocking, and the floor was closer to where he was rapidly ending up in this uneven contest. "Tess!" he yelled after her.

But Tess's attention was all on her father.

*          *          *

"I smell smoke." Shalimar paced with agitation. It was more than nerves; as a feral, Shalimar harbored an instinctive dread of fire. "Why hasn't Tess opened the door?"

"She's still inside," Emma said, her eyes faraway. "I can sense her. And Brennan and Jesse. But I can't tell what she's feeling."

Their comm rings crackled at them. Adam's voice came out. "Shalimar? Emma? What's going on? Have you found them?"

"We're at the laboratory, Adam," Emma reported. "We're looking for a way inside."

"And Tess?"

How did Adam guess that they'd allowed the girl to precede them? Or had he? Emma took a chance. "Around back. Still looking. She knows this building better than we do."

"Good. I don't want her to hear this. There's not too much time left for her brother. He's fading fast. He needs another charge from Jesse, which means both Tess and Jesse need to get back to Sanctuary ASAP. Hurry things along as fast as you can."

"We will, Adam," Emma promised. She looked at Shalimar. "We have to get in."

"There's smoke," Shalimar repeated, her eyes wide with fear. "There's smoke."

"It's been too long," Emma decided. "We have to get inside now. Shalimar, break down the door."

"There's smoke." Shalimar couldn't keep still. "There's fire."

"We so don't have time for this," Emma muttered. She grabbed Shalimar's head, staring deep into Shalimar's terrified eyes. "Shalimar. Brennan, Jesse, and Tess are inside. We have to rescue them. Break in the window."

Shalimar snapped back, Emma's temporary patch putting a bandaid over her feral fear. She shook herself, looking at Emma with new respect. "You could patent that, girl, and make a million." Emma just shrugged.

Shalimar stepped back to give herself a running start. "Watch out," she warned. "This will be messy."

The wooden boards that covered the over-sized window never had a chance. Shalimar's booted foot smashed through them like tissue paper, the noise echoing like gunfire into the night air. Smoke streamed out through the hole, but Shalimar dove in anyway.

Brennan was having a hard time of it. He'd finally found an opponent to match his martial arts, a guy with two gleaming shiners. Brennan did an anemic sweep; the man easily jumped over it and lashed out a kick that bowled the elemental over. Shalimar came out of her shoulder roll in through the now open window, selected the closest target, and took him down with a single kick.

_Damn, that felt good! Haven't had enough action these past couple of days_. Emma's patch kept her from obsessing on the fire crackling through the computers.

Emma crawled in after her with as much decorum as the awkward position would allow. There were four more goons to take out. Emma aimed a psionic blast at the first. This wasn't the time for delicacy.

Raccoon-face wasn't much of an opponent, Shalimar discovered to her dismay, despite him beating up on Brennan. The elemental ended up on the ground next to his attacker when Shalimar was finished.

"Are you all right?" Shalimar demanded. "Where's Jesse and Tess?" She extended her hand.

Brennan was not too proud to take it, staggering to his feet. Shalimar supported him, staggering herself under the load. "They're in the back room, with Maguire," he told her. "Tess took a charge from me. Watch out; she's throwing bolts like rocket launchers."

"We have to get them out," Shalimar said, looking around nervously. Emma's patch was wearing off. "Soon."

Emma's gaze flew to the back room, and her eyes widened. "_Very_ soon."

*          *          *

"No more!" Tess shrieked. Another bolt crashed into the Frankenstein's mess on the work table. "No more!" Fire flickered up the through the glassware. A flash shattered under the heat.

"You little bitch!" Maguire drew himself up, pointing his finger at her—it was the only weapon he could muster. That, and his tongue. "I should have aborted you when you were conceived! You were a failure!"

Jesse lifted his head from the table where he'd let it lie. He ached all over; Maguire had used his devil's collar liberally, forcing the molecular mutant to perform tasks normally well beyond his capabilities. He was in Maguire's back room, where all the truly important experimentation took place. It was cold, and smelled of antiseptic and bleach. And it smelled of human sweat, and blood, and fear. And pain. Jesse now knew what Maguire had put his son through, and hated him for it. Tess had been right to get her brother away.

Moments ago, death had been a reasonable option. Anything to stop what Maguire was forcing him to do. It wasn't the pain that Maguire was inflicting on him; Jesse had lived through more than what the scientist could dish out. But the agony of knowing that he, Jesse, was altering the genes of unborn babies on a molecular level with his gift, something that would change how each child perceived the world, and how the world perceived them…

And now Tess was here. There was something wrong with this picture: Jesse should be the one rescuing Tess. And since when could Tess fire bolts of electricity at anyone? Jesse really wished that he could think straight. It seemed to be very important at the moment.

Answers crept slowly into his addled mind. Brennan—Tess had gotten a charge off of Brennan. Which mean that the elemental was free from his fishbowl. And also meant that Brennan was in about as good a shape as Jesse himself was. And with half a dozen goons floating around, this was not a good situation.

"Not me!" Tess screamed back at her father. "Not me! I'm not the one who failed! You are! You and all your experiments—they don't work! They didn't work on me, they didn't work on Ernest, and they don't work on anyone!" Mustering all of her rage, she flung a massive fireball at the object of her hatred. _Brennan would have been impressed at the size,_ Jesse thought.

She missed. Maguire dodged out of the way with a spryness at odds with his age but entirely in keeping with the danger. The fireball took out a large cabinet filled with chemicals. The sign on the outside of the cabinet said, Warning! Flammable Liquids!, and it was completely accurate. The fireball turned into a massive explosion.

Heat roared throughout the room. Jesse was blown over onto the floor, desperately covering his head with his hands. Shattered glass fell all over the room, fire roaring in pursuit. Jesse hastily brushed away shards of burning material from his head, trying to keep his own clothes from catching on fire. He heard Tess scream in terror, finally realizing the danger she was in.

Adrenaline really was a wonderful thing. Jesse had heard Shalimar say it many times, had experienced it himself on far too many occasions, and was grateful that it was flooding his exhausted body right now.

"Tess!" he yelled. "Where are you?" Smoke billowed through the room, obscuring everything. "Tess!"

"Jesse!" The wail came from there, over to his right.

"I'm coming to get you. Keep yelling!"

Tess was only too glad to oblige. "Jesse! Help!"

_Keep low. Keep under the smoke. Heat rises, stay under the hottest level_. Jesse inched forward, stretching his arms out, feeling around in the blackness until he felt something that wasn't sharp or hard. "Tess?"

"Jesse!" 

She was trembling now. Jesse gathered her in, still keeping as low as they could. He looked around; a futile gesture in the smoky room.

No direction looked right. Tess's fireball was still burning merrily in front of them, filling the room with caustic fumes. Behind them didn't look any better; a cabinet with more flammable chemicals was rocking back and forth, waiting for the worst possible moment to fountain into a shower of sparks. The glassware on the workbench had already shattered from the heat, making the floor as dangerous to crawl over as tacks spread on the road in front of a speeding car.

Jesse put his mouth to Tess's ear. "This way."

*          *          *

The door handle was hot, and they could hear the roaring of the flames through solid wall.

Shalimar rattled the doorknob. "The lock's melted! I can't get it open! Jesse! Tess!"

"Are they alive?" Brennan leaned heavily on a chair.

"They're alive," Emma confirmed. "How do we get them out?" She banged on the door. "Jesse! Tess!"

"Brennan, you have to blow out the door," Shalimar said. "We have to open up a doorway."

"If I do that, this whole place will go up in flames." Brennan pointed to the shelves of toxic chemicals that dotted the edges of the warehouse. "What's inside that smaller room will be nothing compared to that."

"Anything's better than being cooked alive in there!"

"Shal, I don't have anything left." Brennan clicked his fingers. "Tess tapped me out. Right now I couldn't power up a flashlight."

"And Jesse's no better," Shalimar realized. "Tess drained him dry before Maguire ever got his hands on you two." She thought furiously. "What about Ernest? He's the same type of mutant as Jesse."

"No good." Emma quashed that hope. "He doesn't have nearly the control or Jesse's strength. And he's too far away for even the Double Helix to get him."

"Then I have to break down the door!" Shalimar backed up.

*          *          *

Yelping, Jesse pulled his hand back from the doorknob. "It's melted the metal! Damn!"

Tess burst into tears. She'd been doing well up to now, but no way out—!

"Hang in there, Tess. We're not beaten yet." Shifting over a few feet, Jesse tested the wall. He'd burn his hand if he had to, but choosing a cooler spot was a better option. This was not going to be easy; Maguire had overloaded his nervous system to the extent that he didn't think he could phase a housefly through a broken windowpane. But he didn't much care for the option of remaining here. _Nothing ventured, nothing gained_.

Here. The wall was hot, but not much more than the sandy beach on a summer's outing. Jesse placed his hand firmly against the cinderblock surface, feeling the texture hard and unyielding under his palm. Tess's quiet sobs behind him made for a dramatic counterpoint against the threatening roar of the growing inferno. He took a quick moment to gather himself, and exhaled.

The wall wavered, surface shimmering. Searing pain beat at his overstimulated nerves. Not there, not quite… "C'mon!" Jesse yelled in frustration.

He lost it. The wall re-solidified with an almost audible snap! Jesse fell to his knees, and didn't even realize that his face had hit the floor until it slapped his cheek. He swallowed a curse. _Isn't it a little silly to worry about bad language around a kid when you're both about to die?_

"Jesse?"

The floor felt cooler, and just lying there until he passed out from smoke inhalation sounded awfully tempting. But—

"Jesse? You okay?" With hysteria barely held in check.

The groan that escaped wasn't requested, but it slipped out anyway. "Just peachy," he said, trying to cover up. He hauled himself back upright, maintaining as much contact with the cooler floor as he could. Smoke swirled above them. "That didn't work so well." Jesse fingered Maguire's collar, still encircling his neck, still irritating his senses with a low power current constantly running through it. That irritant suggested that the damn thing was still operational. Just what he didn't need.

"Think," Jesse muttered aloud, as much to keep her calm as to come with a better solution. "There has to be another way." He raised his voice. "Brennan! Can you hear me?"

The blaze roared all around them. If the elemental answered, his voice was lost in the inferno.

All right. Time for desperate measures. Maguire's collar was a rasp scraping around his neck, but they could use it. Jesse scuttled back to workbench to snatch up Maguire's control panel. He tried to hand it to Tess. "Do you know how to work this?"

Tess stared at him, horrified, trying to pull back.

Jesse grabbed her sleeve. Another flask shattered in the heat, causing them both to flinch. "This is no time to be squeamish, Tess! Do you know how to use this thing?"

Tess swallowed her tears. "That's what _he_ used on Ernest."

"That's right, and he used it on me. It's the only thing that will get us out of here. I can't phase us out of here without that damn booster pack." Jesse shoved it at her. _Your father screwed up my control enough that I can't phase_, he wanted to snarl. "As soon as I phase the wall, you get through. Don't wait for me, hear? I'll be right behind you. Don't wait."

Without seeing if she could carry out his instructions, Jesse crawled back to the wall. Could she do it? It wasn't up to him. If she couldn't, they would both die. He put both hands up against the cinderblocks, exhaling, waiting for the familiar and uncanny sensation of phasing to begin. "Do it, Tess!" He deliberately turned away, not looking at her, listening to the heartbroken whimpering that seemed to leak out of her. "Do it!"

The next thing Jesse knew, the floor was cool against his cheek again. Only the throbbing that started in his head and cascaded through every part of him let him know that Tess had indeed used the control panel as he'd told her to do. "Did it work?"

Tess huddled against the wall, shivering at the flying cinders, the control panel still in her hands. "You were screaming. Just like Ernest." The tears had dried up; there were no more left. "Please don't make me do that again."

It hadn't. They were still stuck in the burning room, with only moments before they were both roasted alive.

*          *          *

Shalimar hit the stout doors again, with as little effect. "Open, dammit!" she shrieked.

The feral was stronger than any two men, but cinderblock and three inch metal doors defeated her. "Are they still alive?" she demanded of Emma.

Emma herself was trembling under the onslaught of emotions coming from the other two. "They're terrified. But alive."

"Shalimar!" Brennan caught at the feral. "Your ring. Call Adam."

"What can he do?" she snarled. "He's back at Sanctuary."

Brennan gestured at the workbench. "Want to bet there's enough stuff there to create a bomb? We can blow the doors out."

Shalimar stared. "That will kill them."

"And being toasted is better? Give it a shot, Shal."

Shalimar raised her hand to her mouth. "Adam. We need help. Now."

*          *          *

It was getting difficult to breathe.

The smoke was swirling a mere few inches above the floor. Tess buried her head in Jesse's shoulder, seeking comfort in the last few moments of life. Jesse's head swirled with the fumes. The adrenaline was gone, replaced by exhaustion and hopelessness.

Maybe not. An inkling of an idea crept in.

Not for himself; Jesse Kilmartin was history. That much was obvious. He could only hope that his teammates would remember him once in a while. Like when trying to get through locked doors.

But he could get Tess out. Tess's special gift was the ability to take on the mutant power of any mutant she touched. Expecting her to wield it with Jesse's finesse wasn't realistic, but perhaps she could use it enough to phase through the wall herself. Jesse himself wasn't strong enough, after all he'd been through, to use it but Tess could get a charge from him and hadn't been through his ordeal. She had the stamina to survive.

The power drain was brutal, Jesse knew from experience. Once done, he'd be unconscious, and Tess wasn't strong enough to drag him through the phased wall with her. This was strictly a one ticket one way deal. Of course, the upshot was that he wouldn't feel the flames that burned his body to a crisp.

Good deal. He'd take it.

"Tess," Jesse said. "I'm going to get you out of here." He explained what he had in mind.

"I'm not leaving you!" Tess cried out. "I won't!"

"You will," Jesse said sternly. "Listen to me. This isn't the time for little girl hysterics. You have a brother that needs you. You can get out; I can't. It's as simple as that. Either that, or we both die." He softened. "This is the end for me, Tess. I won't be able to do the things that I wanted for the world. I'm counting on you to do them for me. Promise me that you'll make your life count. Promise me!"

"I promise." The tears that she thought she had no more of welled in her eyes once again.

_Jailbait_, Jesse thought. _Did it matter_? The power drain through that kiss far exceeded anything he had ever felt before.

*          *          *

"There's probably not much time." Adam's voice sounded tinny through the ring. "Take the bottle with the nitrous toluene. Be careful; it's flammable."

"That's an issue around here," Brennan muttered under his breath, then raised his voice. "Got it. What's next?"

"Find some—"

"Guys, look! The wall!" Shalimar interrupted. "It's Jesse!"

The cinderblocks to the left of the doors wavered, their molecular cohesion in doubt. The process was agonizingly slow to the watching mutants, wanting to simply plunge their hands in to drag Jesse and Tess out.

"What's taking so long?" Shalimar demanded. "Jesse!" she called.

"Something's wrong." Emma stated the obvious. "Jesse! Concentrate!"

The wall de-solidified. Tess slipped through, blackened and sooty from the smoke, streaks down her face where the tears had washed away the ash. The cinderblock crystallized back into hardness.

"Tess! You're all right!" Emma hugged the girl, but Brennan pounded on the now solid wall, fear in every line of his body.

"Where's Jess?"

Tess turned a soot-stained face up to his. "He's still in there! He made me leave without him! He said he couldn't make it!"

"No!" Shalimar couldn't believe it. To be so close to him, and yet too far away to help. This couldn't be happening!

"Jess!" Brennan yelled, hoping sheer volume would make a difference. "Jesse, phase!"

"He's gone," Emma whispered with an ashen face. "I can't feel him. I can't feel Jesse!"

"Not yet, he's not!" Brennan swore. He twisted his hands, trying to summon an electric charge, but it was no use. Tess had drained the elemental as well, and his powers were gone. He turned on the girl, furious—his best friend was dying because of what she had done—wait.

"Phase the wall!" Brennan demanded. It was how she had gotten out, wasn't it? "Now, Tess. Phase it again! I'll grab Jesse."

"I can't! I could barely do it once."

"You have to!" Brennan insisted. "Hurry! Or it'll be too late!"

"Don't you think I want to?" Tess wailed. "I tried to pull him out! I tried!"

"Try again." Emma rarely used her powers in this fashion, but the life of her teammate was at stake. Emma turned Tess to face her, staring deep into her brown eyes. "You can do it, Tess. You have Jesse's powers, you have his abilities." She zapped her with a psionic blast, rocking Tess backward, strengthening the girl's determination. "Phase the wall."

Emma pushed Tess up against the still hot wall, the girl's hands automatically going in a pattern that looked exactly like what Jesse did. Exhaling, she exerted Jesse's stolen powers.

The wall phased. Brennan darted in, looking around. Where was he? He couldn't see through the smoke. He coughed. "Jesse!"

His toe caught up against something soft. Brennan dropped to the floor—it was Jesse!

"Brennan, hurry!" from outside. "Tess can't hold it much longer!"

The room inside was about to blow, if Brennan was any judge. He grabbed the unconscious mutant under the arms and hauled back through the artificial opening.

Once back in the open warehouse, with the heat rising and flasks popping under the pressure, Brennan hoisted Jesse onto his shoulders.

"This place is going up!" he yelled. "Move!"

*          *          *

_Ow_.

There was something uncomfortable with a nasty, plastic smell over his face. That was the first thing he noticed. The second was that there wasn't an ounce of flesh that didn't hurt. And that pretty much summed up Jesse's existence right now.

No, wait. There were two little hands in his, one slightly larger than the other. The larger one was mittened, but the tiny one felt warm and trusting in his palm, unwilling to let Jesse feel alone even in his sleep.

_Ow._

_Ow, ow._

"He's awake," a girl's voice called out from beside his bed. It seemed to belong to the larger hand, the one that had the mitten on it.

_What's wrong with this picture?_

_Why am I still alive?_

Answering those questions would require opening his eyes, a task that Jesse wasn't certain that he was up to. But even that decision was taken out of his hands when a gentle but firm hand pried open his eyelid to shine a too-bright penlight. He blinked, and winced.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," Adam smiled. Behind, Jesse could see the rest of his teammates. Sitting on stools to either side of his bed were Tess and a younger boy who looked enough like Tess to be her brother.

"Jesse, meet Ernest," Emma said, a tiny grin playing over her face.

Jesse shot her a look_: since when did you start reading minds and not just emotions? _But his first words came out as a cough.

"He's pleased to meet you," Emma translated helpfully.

"Wha—?"

"What happened?" It was Brennan's turn. "We got Tess and Ernest out safely, and they're all set up to live with Lady Esther."

"Crazy Lady Esther," Tess put in with a smug expression. "It's gonna be cool. You gonna come visit me? Teach Ernest how to phase, and do it right?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Jesse whispered. He looked up at Adam. "Maguire?"

Adam's face fell. "Nobody knows. No body was found. And the records were burned to toast. I'm going to need a full report from you when you're up to it."

Jesse closed his eyes. It wasn't a good memory. "Soon."

Brennan grinned. "You've just been rescued by a twelve year old girl, brother. Live with it."


End file.
